BAD MEDICINE$
Drug discount cards offer wildly differing prices
By JOHN AIDAN BYRNE
This is an expensive pill to swallow for discount drug store consumers.
The pharmacy prices on a variety of well-known prescription drugs bought with a discount card could be making some patients sick to their stomachs, with store prices varying by as much as hundreds of dollars — for the same quantities of the same meds — at different chains, a new study reveals.
And it’s perfectly legal, say consumer experts.
Some heart-thumping examples:
A “discounted” 30 mg fill of 30 Crestor pills was offered recently for $238.24 at Walmart, but could be picked up for $74.34 at Walgreens/Duane Reade.
A quantity of Lunesta was fetching $27.20 at Rite Aid. Over at Walgreens/Duane Reade, the same discounted amount sold for $100.59.
A generic brand of Flonase was discounted down to $11.01 at Safeway, but cost more than three times as much at Kroger.
That is the startling analysis by one discount drug card company, ScriptSave WellRx, which looked at the prices its card holders would pay using its popular card. Consumer advocates say the discounts are welcome by hard-pressed consumers, especially those without insurance or who are underinsured — as the cost of medicines and healthcare is rising faster than inflation.
But oblivious consumers could bebe out hundreds of dollars or more each year if they don’t pay close attention when using discount drug cards.
“I wouldn’t call it price gouging,” Shawn Ohri, vice president of business development at ScriptSave WellRx, told The Post. “The health caree patient is no lon-longer regarded as a patient, but as a health care consumers — and as a consumer, you need to be aware of pricing. Honestly, I am not shocked, this is where the industry is at.”
Claire Rosenzweig, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, warned: “The prices of drugs potentially change every day, so you do have to watch out.” In other words, one day Walmart
may have the highest price on one brand, the next day the lowest. Analyst say this often unpredictable pricing model for many prescription drugs is ubiquitous. In tthe discount card sector, many businesses can offer their cards, which come with apps for comparison shopping, because they negotiate volume discounts with the drug manufacturers that are then passed along at the retail out
But those volume discounts can vary wildly from one retailer to the next. “There are multiple, multiple factors and layers that come into pricing,” Ohri explained. There are multiple makers of Lipitor, for example, along with multiple kinds of packing, which could impact what one retail chain pays compared with a cross-town rival.
“It’s a very complicated industry if you think about it,” Ohri added. “There are a lot more than 10,000 drugs, and each has different manufacturers, brand and generic versions, and different wholesalers.”
Rosenzweig said the main takeaway is that these discount cards don’t guarantee bargains, though the cards in some cases are perfectly fine and can save consumers real money.
But she added: “You don’t always necessarily end up with a discount, and when a card offers up to 75 percent off the cash price, that could potentially be as little as 2 percent.”
Ohri said the approximately 700,000 holders enrolled in the ScriptSave WellRx program for its free card and app are saving anywhere up to 80 percent on their meds.
Ddiscount cards are not exactly free, either, because when the consumer is at the checkout, a transaction fee is applied that is then pocketed by various parties, including the card marketer.
The popularity of the cards is not surprising, however.
The cost of prescription meds is migraine-inducing. A study by Segal Consulting is projecting double-digit growth this year in the cost of prescription drugs for the 55-and-over population.